Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1449993
23 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 14, 2022 FOCUS: BANKING & FINANCE take on clients with fewer assets if they feel there is a good prospect of further investment. Daukas said BFS' investment strategy concentrates on guiding clients to individual company stocks rather than mutual funds, and the firm uses its research department to identify growing businesses with good management and solid financials. Increasingly, investors are interested in companies' morals and ethics, Daukas said. Some want to avoid tobacco or armaments. Others might have religious objections to companies involved in birth control. BFS has options for investors who are environmentally conscious or want to be involved with companies that have diverse leadership and labor-friendly practices. BFS staff tries to meet with management of companies it recommends. This year, it added a budget of "a couple hundred thousand" to send analysts on road trips to visit companies, Daukas said. "We like to kick the tires ourselves," he said. BFS' competition includes wirehouse stock brokers, like UBS and Merrill, banks, mutual fund companies and boutique and online money managers, Daukas said. He advises those investing in the market today to stay diversified; focus on long-term investment and quality; and avoid snap judgments based on the news of the day. Growing a nest egg Woodstock Academy became a BFS client four years ago with less than the typical $1 million minimum investment, said Associate Head of School Jonathan Sturdevant. The 1,150-student private school in northeastern Connecticut had received a "significant" donation and wanted to grow an endowment, Sturdevant said. School leaders hoped to show potential donors their money would be well managed. Sturdevant said BFS representatives returned his initial call within hours. "They were genuine and frankly, at the time, we weren't an attractive client," Sturdevant said. "We were a very small investment, without going into numbers. We are not a high- net-worth client, but we have very specific goals for our endowment. Today we have more than 10 times the amount we started with due to fundraising and growth. They have been a pretty solid partner for us." New York Community Bank eyes CT presence following merger By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com A New York bank with $59.5 billion in assets is preparing to enter the Connecticut market. New York Community Bank, subsidiary to New York Community Bancorp, has filed an application with the Connecticut Department of Banking seeking permission to take over loan production offices in Rocky Hill and Danbury that are currently operated by Flagstar Bank. New York Community Bancorp announced in April 2021, that it was merging with Michigan-based Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in a $2.6 billion all-stock deal. The deal was expected to close by the end of 2021, but has been stalled while it awaits approval from the Federal Reserve, an issue holding up other U.S. bank deals, including Buffalo-based M&T Bank's purchase of People's United Bank. Some bankers have speculated that the Biden administration is cracking down on industry consolidation, which is leading to delays in bank merger approvals. Last summer, President Biden issued an executive order instructing federal regulators to strengthen oversight of bank mergers, which the White House believes are reducing competition at the expense of consumers. Flagstar, which has $25.5 billion in assets, entered the Connecticut market in 2011, as part of a broader effort to gain a foothold in New England. At the time, Flagstar hired Steven J. Issa, a former regional CEO of Sovereign Bank, as its New England market president, to lead the company's growth into several cities in the region, including Hartford, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston. Flagstar's focus, it said at the time, was on home and middle-market commercial lending. Once its merger is approved, the two Connecticut locations will be called "Flagstar Bank, a division of New York Community Bank," according to the bank's application with banking regulators. New York Community Bank didn't return calls seeking comment. Jonathan Sturdevant